This is something that the YouTube and jazz bassist Adam Neely says quite often. Here’s a video with him talking about it.
Repeated phrases often sound intentional. Whether they were intentional or not, repeating them makes them sound that way.
So if you hit a wrong note while playing a solo, hit it again, then slide up into a more “right” note or a more “in” note. It’ll make that one specific part sound like you’re playing “out” on purpose.
ISJ
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If you’ve studied composition in a classical context like I have then you’ve likely learned how to write very linearly. Composing with loops is nothing like that. They’re two contrasting styles of composing. They can be mixed, but you think a little differently when composing linearly vs. composing with loops.
One thing to consider when composing with loops is how you can keep them interesting, even if the music itself and the notes and rhythms aren’t changing.
Changing the timbre of instruments can be a great way to do this.
One common way of changing the timbre is by adding a Low-Pass Filter to an instrument and slowly opening it. I’ve got a video titled Going from a Loop to a Full Track using Filters if you want to learn more about that.
Something else you can do to change the timbre of a loop is add or change instruments. This one might seem obvious, but it can add a whole lot to a loop. There’s a 12 Tone video titled How to Write a Four Chord Loop where they mention this as well. You can often make a song sound almost like a completely different song by changing the rhythms and instrumentation.
One way to go about writing like this is to think of contrasts. If the chorus is very staccato with stabs, then maybe the verse could be legato with some counterpoint.
This means you need to create multiple instruments and synths if you’re making electronic music, but that’s what might be required.
So go make some timbral changes with your loop based music.
ISJ
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Now of course I’m not saying that you should commit copyright infringement. Let’s get that out of the way.
But then what do I mean?
I mean that you should take small pieces of songs. Small ideas. Maybe it’s a chord progression. Or a one bar rhythm. Maybe it’s a four chord loop or a drum beat.
I had a teacher in college assign us an assignment where we did this. He gave us two songs and told us to copy part of the chord progression from one and part of the melody from the other. Obviously you can’t take the whole thing, but you can take one measure.
Use those songs and those ideas as a starting off point. You might even make a melody that you really like.
If it’s a chord progression that works even better. Chord progressions can’t be copyrighted. Someone who knows you like the song that you took it from might recognize it, but that doesn’t really matter. If you create a new piece of music using it then it’s still a new piece of music. Also so many songs share chord progressions already.
If you’re ever stuck and don’t have any ideas then this can be a great way to give yourself some ideas.
ISJ
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This doesn’t sound super musical, but it’s something that often helps me write better music. I’ll have an idea and then I’ll go to the piano to test it out. I’ll check how it sounds. If I don’t like how it sounds then whatever I’ll throw it out, but getting to hear it and try to make it sound good is what matters.
It’s also low stress. No one’s listening. If you think of an idea that isn’t good, then toss it out and move on. No one needs to hear it. Eventually you’ll find an idea that you like.
ISJ
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Composing music for an instrument you don’t play can be incredibly hard. Often it’s harder than a lot of people imagine. I remember being at Berklee College of Music and many times during recording sessions or rehearsals people in the ensemble would mention that certain things are difficult to play or “not something you would write for violin.” That doesn’t mean that you can’t write it, but that it was written in a way that’s dissimilar to other types of violin music. That doesn’t make it bad, but it might mean that it’s awkward to play on that instrument. For example on guitar you can only play a maximum of 6 notes … because you only have 6 strings. If you were to write out a chord for guitar that has 7 notes, one of those notes would have to be removed.
Something else to be aware of is the mechanics of the instrument. If we take guitar as our example again, we need to remember that the player only has four fingers to use. Maybe five if they’re familiar with reaching their thumb around the neck how Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan would do, but not all guitarists are comfortable and familiar with this technique. If you write a chord that requires more than four different fretted notes, they need to be arranged in a very specific way because you run the risk of that chord not being playable.
The same thing can be said about piano. One hand can only reach so far. If you write something that is outside of that reach, the pianist may be able to roll the chord (playing them as close together as they can while still playing them separately), but there’s a big chance they might not be able to play it.
I’ve definitely written stuff that doesn’t make sense on violin or viola or flute or clarinet. At the time I didn’t know how to play anything on any of those instruments.
One way to get around this problem is to learn the instrument.
I’ve done that with some instruments because I also enjoy playing them, but if you don’t enjoy playing them then there’s another way to get around this.
This method also can take quite a lot of time to be useful. Imagine how much time it takes someone to get proficient at playing an instrument.
Simply learn the mechanics.
You don’t need to know exactly how the technique is and you don’t need to be able to demonstrate it, but knowing something about how different instruments are played can help a lot. For example, learning the notes on the violin finger board can help you better write for violin. Or if you learn different fingerings for flute you’ll be able to better write for flute.
If you’re writing for very high level professional players, or the music is fairly simple, then this likely won’t be a problem for you. But if you have a specific sound you want or a specific technique you want used it can become an issue.
This is something that takes time to learn, especially when learning about multiple instruments. But remember that even learning the basics can help. And you don’t need to learn everything right away. Start small. Start with the strings of the violin. Start with the first five notes of a C major scale on flute. Then add on to those things.
It’ll get easier the more you know.
ISJ
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Start releasing your music. Whatever that means for you. If you can’t afford something like CD Baby or Distrokid then post your songs on Instagram or Soundcloud. Start putting your music out there. Put your music into the world for other people to hear.
Other people may enjoy it. You won’t know until you start releasing music.
It’ll also help you decide when something is done. You’ll have to decide. It won’t ever feel done. You’ll always want to keep learning and keep tweaking and keep changing different tiny little details. Eventually you need to be the one that decides when a piece of music is done.
Start releasing.
ISJ
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Here are two things that have helped with that anxiety:
Let’s talk about the attempt in DC…. video by Beau of the Fifth Column
Dinner Party – Sleepless Nights
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This is a song I played for my students. I think it’s an important song in the development of music because it influenced a lot of other music after it.
When I hear this I’m hearing a chord progression of mainly three chords:
I7 – IV7 – V7
I’m also hearing electric guitar, bass, drums, a vocalist and a piano. Watching performances can help you hear different instruments a little better because you’ll have some guide for what you’re listening for.
I’m also hearing ideas that influenced bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Queen, Mumford and Sons, and most modern rock and pop music. That chord progression above is an incredibly common chord progression that’s used in lots of songs. There might be a few more added chords, but those three chords are incredibly common.
There’s a guitar solo in the middle, which is a huge part of rock and heavy metal. Maybe Chuck Berry wasn’t the first person to play a guitar solo. I don’t know who was the first, but it’d surprise me if it was someone that was as late in guitar history as Chuck Berry. Regardless there are musical ideas in the guitar solo that are used by many other bands after Chuck Berry.
Another reason I played it for my students is because Chuck Berry is a black musician. And I agree with Philip Ewell that there are many great musicians of minority groups that are too often left out of music history, which ends up making music history look like the only people making music of any importance to the time were white men, which just wasn’t the case.
I also think it’s important to include black musicians in genres of music that are not thought to have come from black culture. Hip-hop is one genre where it’s common knowledge to have come from black culture. But something like Rock and Roll or even Blues (in some circles) might not be thought to have originated from black culture, though both of those genres did originate from black culture.
And let’s be honest, this song is iconic. A lot of my students knew it. A number of them knew it from the movie Back to the Future, but some of them had heard it from their parents playing music. I also enjoy the different changes. I don’t get bored when I listen to this song. It stays exciting because it has a story being told, and it doesn’t stay in one place for too long. It has a busy texture though so maybe that might not be super enjoyable to you if you enjoy more mellow and sparse music. I personally think this texture is really exciting, especially if done as well as these musicians have done it.
Texture is kind of a weird aspect of music to pay attention to, but it’s the combination of all of the different pieces that are being played at the same time. For example solo violin has a much more sparse texture than this song. This is mainly because there’s only one performer. It would be hard for one performer to make as much noise as five different musicians. But you can think of texture as being how much noise there is, or how many different things are going on. A solo guitar with a singer would also likely have a more sparse texture because there’s only two musicians, but at the same time some solo piano music (especially by Franz Liszt) can have a busy texture. But let’s move on.
There’s a story being told about a kid named Johnny B. Goode who could play guitar really well. He’s also from Louisiana and grew up in the country and didn’t know how to read or write very well. That’s all information given in the song, which might sound strange to say in this way, but the song essentially tells a story.
In that way it’s similar to much older folk songs that have a specific story attached to them. The Odyssey by Homer is thought to have been some type of song or ballad that would be recited to some type of rhythm or music. It didn’t sound like Johnny B. Goode, but it’s a similar idea of telling a story through song.
Take a listen to the song and see if you can hear those different things. Listening in this way makes all music much more interesting to me, so I try to do it with whatever music I might be listening to in that moment.
ISJ
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I don’t always do this, but when I do it helps me practice so much more effectively.
I naturally do this with my private lessons. Speaking of, I do offer online music lessons for guitar, piano, ukulele, and music theory, music composition, and music production so send me a message if you’re interested.
But back to practice routines. Divide up your practice time into sections. Here’s a short example for a 30 minute practice session:
10m practicing scales/chords/arpeggios
10m practicing a specific piece
10m ear training
With this routine you’re practicing multiple different things and you have some direction. Otherwise often you end up practicing a lot without any direction and only improving slightly in each thing.
The way I like to create a routine like this is divide your practice time into three or four sections. Choose a few things that you want to work on and work on three of them each session. I like 10 minutes because that’s really do-able. It’s short enough where you can focus and get something done, but not too long where it becomes boring. It’s also a perfect amount of time to run through a few different scales in all keys.
Get a sheet of paper and write down whatever you want to improve. Maybe that’s learning scales or learning chords. Maybe that’s reading sheet music. Maybe that’s playing arpeggios. Maybe it’s ear training. Whatever those things are write them down so that you have them in front of you. Then choose three. Assign 10 minutes to each aspect of music you’re working on and that’s your routine.
If you’re practicing for longer than 30 minutes I suggest taking a break halfway through. That way you’ll come back more refreshed.
But then maybe you have more areas you can practice. For an hour you could do this:
10m – chords
10m – scales
10m – ear training
5m – break
10m – working on a piece
10m – arpeggios
Total that’s 55 minutes, which is basically an hour.
Feel free to try out any of those practice routines. It’ll make practice a little more directional and help you improve in different aspects, while keeping you from feeling overloaded by trying to cram for one thing.
ISJ
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